DVD Extras: A New
Vision: director Abrams' take on the sci-fi series and his
efforts to make the prequel feel real, To Boldly Go: the
director, writers and producers talk about the challenges of
stepping into the closely watched franchise, Casting: about the
search for look-alikes who could handle the acting and capture
the essence of these mythic characters, Aliens: designers
Neville Page and Joel Harlow talk about their new species and
the reimagining of the Vulcans and Romulans, deleted scenes:
includes "Spock birth," "Klingons take over Narada" and "Prison
Interrogation and breakout," optional commentary, and trial
games for Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation Net.

Quite
frankly, it felt like the end of the line for Star Trek in 2002
when, Nemesis, the 10th film in the fabled sci-fi
series, proved to be such an uninspired disappointment. After
all, as any Trekkie could tell you, the even-numbered
installments, at least until then, could always be counted on to
be substantially superior to their odd-numbered counterparts.

So, it
is easy to understand why loyal fans have been holding their
breaths with trepidation in anticipation of the release of Star
Trek 11. But they can now exhale a collective sigh of relief,
for this worthy adventure not only resuscitates the flagging
franchise but it just might be the best Star Trek yet.

Brilliantly-conceived by director J.J. Abrams (Mission
Impossible 3) as an origins prequel, the picture is a
practically-perfect blend of the nostalgic and the new. Thus,
Baby Boomers are apt to appreciate the intricate back story
reintroducing the central characters from the original
TV-series, including Spock (Zachary Quinto), Sulu (John Cho),
Scotty (Simon Pegg), Bones (Karl Urban), Uhura (Zoe
Saldana), Chekov (Anton Yelchin) and, of course, Captain
James Tiberius Kirk (Chris Pine).

In
this regard, it is absolutely delightful discovering the
derivation of each of the crew member's trademark tics, gestures
and idiosyncrasies, especially since so much tension is
subsequently generated by the contrasting personas of the
mercurial Kirk and the relatively-introspective, ever-logical
Spock. Meanwhile, youngsters simply interested in an escapist
summer blockbuster will undoubtedly find the scintillating,
state-of-the-art action sequences riveting, most of which pit
Kirk and company in an epic, intergalactic battle against a
tattooed race of alien creatures called Romulans.

The
point of departure is the year 2387 which is when James' dad
(Chris Hemsworth) dies a hero shortly before his son is born,
after the spaceship he is commanding is destroyed by Nero (Eric
Bana), the leader of the aforementioned Romulans. Fast-forward
twenty years and we find that Kirk has grown into a rudderless
rebel more interested in booze, women and fast cars than in
following in his father's footsteps.

But
following a bar fight with cadets enrolled at the nearby
Starfleet Academy, he is challenged by one of his late father's
admirer’s, Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood), to make
something of his life. That dare kickstarts Kirk's
metamorphosis. He immediately enrolls in the astronaut school
and while in training, one-by-one befriends Spock and the other
classmates who will soon join him on the maiden voyage of the
Starship Enterprise.

A
splendid space saga so spellbinding, I won’t complain about
their resurrecting that grammatically-incorrect,
infinitive-splitting catchphrase, ’To boldly go where no one has
gone before!’